Stenting versus medical therapy alone for symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis: protocol for a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) is a common cause of stroke worldwide. However, whether the treatment options for symptomatic ICAS is stent placement or medical therapy alone is still controversial. At present, three multicentre randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been published, but their research designs are also slightly different and the conclusions are not completely consistent. Therefore, we plan to conduct a systematic review and individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials to ascertain safety and efficacy of stenting versus medical therapy alone for symptomatic patients with intracranial arterial stenosis.

Methods and analyses

We will identify RCTs comparing stenting vs medical therapy alone in patients with

SUBMITTER: Wang T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10314494 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature